Eurostar ‘in advanced talks’ with UK and French governments over state-backed loans March 17, 2021 Eurostar is reportedly in advanced talks with the UK and French governments to secure state-backed loans after passenger numbers tumbled during the pandemic. The head of French rail group SNCF, which is the largest shareholder in Eurostar, said it needs to finalise the deal by next month to help it survive the rest of the [...]
HSBC poised to sell French retail network to US private equity subsidiary March 17, 2021 HSBC is poised to sell its French retail network to a subsidiary of US private equity firm Cerberus. Yesterday HSBC France chief executive Jean Beunardeau told employees the firm had decided to progress discussions with the subsidiary, though “discussions are still ongoing and are expected to be for some weeks,” the Financial Times reported. Beunardeau [...]
Young’s lenders restrict pub chain’s dividend to £5m for next year March 17, 2021 Young’s has warned shareholders that its lenders have restricted the amount it can pay in dividends to £5m in the next financial year, as the pub chain outlined its reopening plans. The company said it had agreed with Natwest and the holder of its senior secured notes that any shareholder payouts will not go above [...]
Wirex wins High Court battle over ‘Cryptoback’ trademark March 17, 2021 Crypto credit card company Wirex has won its High Court battle over the use of its ‘Cryptoback’ Bitcoin reward scheme.
British fashion brand Ralph & Russo enters administration after Covid hits sales March 17, 2021 British luxury fashion brand Ralph & Russo has collapsed into administration after the coronavirus pandemic decimated sales. Ralph & Russo has appointed Begbies Traynor and Quantuma as administrators to investigate “all possible options” for the company. In a statement this afternoon, the company’s co-founder Tamara Ralph said trading conditions during the pandemic had put “tremendous [...]
Deep Verge shares jump on upbeat 60-second Covid breath test trials March 17, 2021 Shares in Deep Verge jumped today after the science tech firm revealed upbeat data from clinical trials of its rapid Covid breath test. The London-listed firm hailed a “major milestone” after initial results from phase three clinical studies showed its test could recognise Covid infections in under 60 seconds. While the company is still awaiting [...]
Unite plans 23 days of strikes at Heathrow over ‘fire and rehire’ plans March 17, 2021 Unite this afternoon said that it was planning 23 days of strikes at Heathrow Airport from the beginning of April in protest at the airport’s restructuring plans. There will be 41 strikes over the period, the union said, ending on 25 April. Unite said that the strike had been called because of the airport’s decision [...]
UK businesses look for international trading opportunities post-Brexit March 17, 2021 Britain’s vaccine rollout has triggered a wave of optimism among businesses as they look to new growth opportunities after the pandemic but Brexit concerns still linger. Business confidence is now at its highest level since the summer of 2018 as the government steps up its efforts to vaccinate the adult population by the summer. While [...]
City Corporation welcomes plans to reopen Waterloo and City line March 17, 2021 The City of London Corporation has welcomed a commitment by Transport for London (TfL) to reopen the Waterloo and City line in the coming months. Services on the line – London’s second-most intensively used – have been stopped since March 2020. A TfL board meeting was told yesterday that the line would restart in May or June. [...]
Using AI-powered spacecraft is the only way to clean up space March 17, 2021 In 1978 NASA scientist Donald J. Kessler proposed a theoretical scenario in which the density of objects in low Earth orbit due to space pollution becomes high enough that collisions between objects starts to cause a chain reaction whereby each collision generates more space debris, which then increases the likelihood of further collisions. One implication [...]
